This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for packaging products, especially food products, in plastic netting material.
Heretofore, it has been a practice to package various products, for example food products such as hams and turkeys, in a woven or knitted netting material. The food product can then be hung in an oven, for example, for cooking or curing. One method for placement of netting about such bulk products requires formation of a sleeve of netting material around the product which is then clipped with a metal clip at each end. In practice the sleeve is first formed for receipt of the product. One end of the sleeve is then sealed with a metal clip. The elongated sleeve next receives the product. The opposite end of the netting is then clipped with a double clipper, the clips being spaced from one another. The netting between the spaced clips is then cut and the packaged product is then separated from the unfilled sleeve material. The packaged product is thus ready for further processing.
Plastic netting materials are commonly used for the described packaging operation. One disadvantage associated with plastic netting material is that during the cutting operation which severs the netting between the two spaced clips, the cutting knife may generate small plastic chards which can possibly contaminate the product. Thus, a need has arisen to provide an improved method and apparatus for cutting such netting.
Prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,700 disclosed apparatus for cutting or severing plastic netting. The device comprised a movable heated punch which cooperated with a fixed anvil. The device worked, but was not commercially acceptable.